Pompeo: Russia needs to 'see the pain'

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Pompeo on cyberattacks: 'We have to impose real costs on Russian leadership'

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo joins 'Unfiltered with Dan Bongino' to discuss Biden's weak response to Russian cyberattacks

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo joined ‘Unfiltered with Dan Bongino’ Saturday to discuss what the United States' strategy should be in response to Russian cyberattacks.

MIKE POMPEO: I listen to President Biden speak, and I am confident that Vladimir Putin, a former KGM operative, sees weakness. He sees a president that told him "Hey, there’s a list of 16 things you can't touch," leaving thousands of things he potentially can. I think he sees each of those things and says ‘I can move out in this direction, I can continue to accelerate my ransomware program.’ And he can say it's not his program, but he knows everything that these folks are doing, he knows how to stop it.

And what's going to have to happen is you have to make the cost greater than the benefit. You have to ultimately impose real costs on Russian leadership, not just Vladimir Putin, but all the oligarchs who are involved in these operations. And you have to make sure they understand that there will be real costs, they will be swift,  they will be determined, they will be consistent, they will be severe. All the things that are the hallmark of deterrence, the things we did for four years in the Trump administration, they are the hallmarks of a security policy that will protect the American people and stop the Russians from thinking they can get away with this and have it cost them nothing. 

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In the end, all the conversation, all the talking, amount to nothing. Putin will listen to that, and it will go in one ear and out the other. The only thing that will cause him to change his behavior and cause him to change the behavior of those who are conducting these attacks is that it's costly. The people of Russia see the pain, the government of Russia sees the pain, that there are real costs. We have the capability to do it. It's about leaders thinking about the right strategy and then executing on it with enormous vigor and communicating with the Russians that the reason for the response is directly attributable to the things they've done to us. 

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE: 

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